High impact information on dac

• The eyeless, dachshund, and eyes absent genes encode conserved, nuclear proteins that are essential for eye development in Drosophila [1].
• We show that the transcriptional regulator Dachshund acts downstream of gcm genes and is required to make lamina precursor cells and lamina neurons competent for neuronal differentiation through regulation of epidermal growth factor receptor levels [2].
• Mutations of ey completely disrupted the MB neuropils, and a null mutation of dac resulted in marked disruption and aberrant axonal projections [3].
• Drosophila sine oculis, eyes absent, and dachshund are essential for compound eye formation and form a gene network with direct protein interaction and genetic regulation [4].
• Our results suggest that the two eye enhancers act redundantly and in concert with each other to integrate distinct upstream inputs and direct the eye-specific expression of dac [5].

Biological context of dac

• Our analysis uncovers two separate eye enhancers in intron eight and the 3' non-coding regions of the dac locus defined by clusters of highly conserved sequences [5].
• These results indicate that ey and dachshund may have a role in axon pathway selection during embryogenesis [6].
• Clones of cells expressing escargot or homothorax placed in the distal domain induce intercalary expression of dachshund in surrounding cells and reorient planar cell polarity of those cells [7].
• Furthermore, homologs of other high-ranking eye developmental genes like hedgehog, decapentaplegic, dachshund, and homothorax are expressed in the optic lobes [8].
• We report here that targeted expression of teashirt in imaginal discs is sufficient to induce ectopic eye formation in non-eye tissues, a phenotype similar to that produced from targeted expression of eyeless, dachshund, and eyes absent [9].

Anatomical context of dac

• We show that the gene dachshund (dac) is differentially expressed in the male and female genital discs, and plays sex-specific roles in the development of the genitalia [10].
• Genetic control of development of the mushroom bodies, the associative learning centers in the Drosophila brain, by the eyeless, twin of eyeless, and Dachshund genes [3].
• Using dachshund as a gene target for Decapentaplegic and Wingless signals, it was also found that Doublesex(M) and Doublesex(F) both positively and negatively control the response to these signals in male and female genitalia, respectively [11].
• Isolation of three zebrafish dachshund homologues and their expression in sensory organs, the central nervous system and pectoral fin buds [12].
• We show that targeted expression of dachshund is sufficient to direct ectopic retinal development in a variety of tissues, including the adult head, thorax and legs [13].

Regulatory relationships of dac

• We show that restoring expression of eya in loss-of-function dpp mutant backgrounds is sufficient to induce so and dac expression and to rescue eye development [14].
• In addition, we show that dac negatively regulates Dll [15].
• We find that the sex determination pathway acts cell-autonomously to determine whether dac is activated by wg signaling, as in females, or by dpp signaling, as in males [10].

Other interactions of dac

• The Drosophila sex determination hierarchy modulates wingless and decapentaplegic signaling to deploy dachshund sex-specifically in the genital imaginal disc [10].
• Ectopic expression of ey can induce the expression of several eye-specification genes (eya, so, and dac) and induce eye formation in multiple locations on the body [16].
• Different expression dynamics of dachshund and Distal-less point to modifications in the regulation of the leg gap gene system [17].
• These targets, which share homology with the fly genes sine oculis, eyes absent and dachshund, exist in mice and humans as the Six, Eya and Dach gene families [18].
• We find that dachshund and spalt/spalt-related are essential for proper joint formation between particular antennal segments [19].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of dac

• Molecular cloning and expression of the human and mouse homologues of the Drosophila dachshund gene [20].

References